This page is one
of the annex pages of www.understandfrance.org, the foremost
site on Franco-American intercultural differences. It contains
documents, facts and figures illustrating the content of some
of its pages.

Facts
& figures

This page contains
Facts and Figures about France and the French. Some are significant,
other less so....

Cultural misunderstandings : the case
of Eurodisney. Basically, Disney expected the Europeans to act
like Americans and spend vacations in the park (several
days) but for Europeans, it is a (very good) show i.e. a one-day
visit. Therefore, visitors spend much less than expected. In
addition to this initial mistake, Disney made several big mistakes
when transposing blindly American concepts without even imagining
that the Europeans could be different. Among them :

There was no WINE in the restaurant
on Main Street (at the opening : it had to be changed after a
few months...) !

They thought Europeans would
be impressed to sleep in (expensive) hotels faking medieval castles
(in Europe, we have plenty of AUTHENTIC medieval castles)

For Chrismas, they imported
at great expense real REINDEERS from Scandinavia : but in Latin
Europe, a reindeer does not mean much and Christmas being very
mild, they lost their horns, thinking Spring was early that year,
and they had to perform with plastic horns.

They wanted cast members to
cut their moustache (and wear deodorants...) which was considered
a violation of labor rights!

Etc...

The Loi (Law) Toubon (August 4, 1994)
was designed for the protection
of the French language,
mostly against an excessive or not needed use of English. Its
provisions for foreign companies operating in France include
that the following documents MUST be written in French :

any corporate procedure which
include a compulsory provision for the employee such as accounting
procedures, maintenance manuals, etc..

Why do the French protect their language ? Here is an statement by Jacques Toubon (New York Times 4/4/1994) : "Admittedly, Americans may have some difficulty in understanding that a problem exists. Europeans would not assume that Americans, who are known for not being too open to foreign cultures and for pursuing their own cultural protectionism, understand foreign languages. Many Americans, on the contrary, often forget that one has the right in other countries not to understand their language and to speak another one ... What France does still generates interest in the entire world. It is probably because France defend a certain concept of freedom and diversity that some people are troubled. France remains, to paraphrase General Charles de Gaulle, the country that sometimes feels compelled to say "no" not out of egotism but a sens of what is right".

rles de GAulle, the country than sometimes feels compelled to say "no" not out of egotism

"Compagnonnage" is a tradition which goes back to the
Middle-Ages. Highly skilled workers travel and work in different
places in order to acquire the knowledge of their specialty from
a master ("maître") ; their field can be anything
from carpentry to cooking, pastry, plumbing, ironworks, stone-cutting,
etc... Moving from one employer to another, they make their "Tour
de France" and progress from "apprenti" to "compagnon"
and finally "master". This is a medieval tradition
going back to the time of the builders of Gothic cathedrals.
The Compagnons du Tour de France stay in specific hotels for
young workers, called "cayenne", managed by a woman,
"la mère" who takes care of them. To become
a "master" of the Compagnons du Devoir (founded 1347),
they have to realize a "chef d'oeuvre", which is something
professionally very difficult, submitted to a college of masters.
Needless to say that this is extremely close to free-masonry.
All famous chefs in French restaurants have been through this
cursus and can use the title "Meilleur Ouvrier de France"
which is its classical expression, but your plumber can also
be a "Meilleur Ouvrier de France" and, in this case,
you can be sure he is a good plumber.

In Paris, you can
admire a sample of very impressive "chefs d'oeuvres"
in the Maison du Compagnonnage, 2 rue de Brosse 75004, along
the Seine, facing Ile Saint Louis. Compagnonnage is a fascinating
world of highly skilled professionals with very high technical
and ethical standards grounded in a very ancient tradition. Each
of them is given a name which includes his region and a moral
characteristic (for instance : Tourangeau la Vertu or Périgord
Coeur-Loyal).

An international education test : the results of the Program for International Student Assessment/PISA 2009 (OECD 2010, source : IHT Dec.8, 2010) :

Science

Reading

Math

Best #1

China=595

China=556

China=600

Best #2

Finland=554

Korea=539

Singapore=562

France

498

496

497

USA

502

500

487

Average

501

494

497

Worse#31

Latvia=494

Slovenia=483

USA=487

Worse#32

Portugal=493

Greece=483

Ireland=487

International school days : French kids work longer days (Source OECD 2010 in Le Monde Dec.10,2010) :

Hours per year age 7 to 8

Hours per year age 9 to 11

Number of days of school per year

Korea

612

703

220

Japan

709

774

201

Germany

635

790

193

Finland

608

640

188

Spain

833

794

176

Italy

891

913

167

France

864

864

144

Working time : On average, students in "Classes Préparatoires" work twice more (56 hours/week of class and personal work) than college students (32 hours/week). (source : OVE in Le Monde Jan. 19, 2011.

Quotes about France and
the French

Charles Gaulle about
the strengths and weaknesses of the French(in Peyrefitte's C'était de
Gaulle) :

" You must trust their
strengths and protect them from their weaknesses. They have not
changed since Julius Caesar described them. Their strengths are
bravery, generosity, unselfishness, impetuosity, curiosity, creativity,
the gift they have to adjust to extreme situations. Their weaknesses
are a clanic spirit, mutual intolerance, brusque anger, internecine
quarrels, the jealousy they feel for the advantages that
the others have"

"The French need to
feel pride in their country. Otherwise, they crawl around in
mediocrity, they fight among themselves and they take a shortcut
to the nearest "bistrot".

"Germany is not concluding with France a 'chivalrous' peace. Germany does not consider France an ally but a state with which the accounts will be settled by the peace treaty. In the future, France shall play the role of an 'enlarged Switzerland' and will become a land of tourism, eventually taking over some products in the field of fashion. (…) Any form of government that might seem liable to restore France's forces will face opposition from Germany. In Europe, only Germany decides." Ministry of Propaganda of the Reich, July 9, 1940 (posted on the walls of the exhibition "L'Art en Guerre- Paris 1938-1947", Museum of Modern Art, Paris, Jan.2013.

Regional languages in France in 2008 : the choice of high school students, among the students who decided to study a regional language in addition to an European language (Source : le Figaro Nov.1, 2011)